One man\’s year-long journey through the world of baseball

I first got the tip that MLB had handed down some more steroid suspensions from an article in the print edition of the Listin Diario. For some reason the Diario prints a couple of articles each day that don’t make it into the online version. The MLB.com press release has a little more info anyways, though, and carries the benefit of being in English. This is an interesting development. I must confess, I completely missed the statement Bud Selig issued to the congressional hearing on steroid use last year. In that statement, Selig announced his plan to expand his steroid testing program to the Venezuelan Summer League, and he’s delivered.

The 4 VSL players, Carlos Fajardo (Reds), Alfredo Martin (Twins), Jonathan Requena (Twins), and Richard Rodriguez (Blue Jays), will serve 50-game suspensions.
While there are some depressing issues involved here – Latin-American players are under particularly strong pressure to make it to the major leagues – summer league testing is good news. In the past, major league baseball has been disturbingly hands-off where clubs’ Latin-American operations are concerned. Any increased involvement is a positive. I’m not sure why they would invest the money in expanding testing to include the VSL and not the DSL, but you have to assume that will be coming in the next couple of years.

About

I’m currently working on a year-long research project on the globalization of baseball, courtesy of the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. Over the next 12 months, my project will take me to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Australia, Puerto Rico, Okinawa, and Venezuela, and I decided to set up this blog to share some of the things I pick up along the way.